Tag Archives: host CJ Grisham

Geoff Tate may be a heavy-metal hero to fans worldwide, but this month the Queensryche frontman is exposing his sensitive side in an effort to honor heroes of a different kind.

Interviewed on You Served, Geoff – whose dad served in the U.S. military – discusses how his band’s latest musical project, a new CD titled American Soldier, came to be.

“How does the soldier feel in these situations?” Geoff (above) tells us he asked before setting out to pay musical tribute to the troops.

“So many times you see Holly- wood films and they kind of glorify things and take things out of context. But I wanted to tell the story from the soldiers’ point of view,” he tells host – and U.S. Army Master Sergeant – CJ Grisham.

Geoff, who interviewed hundreds of soldiers at random over a year as background for the concept album, goes on to reveal the inspiration for Middle of Hell, a track that CJ finds particularly poignant.

“That song comes from stories from two different soldiers. One of them was writing letters to his dad back and forth. And his dad told him before he went, ‘Look, son. You’re going into the middle of hell. So just be careful,” says Geoff.

“So the son wrote back to his dad a month later from Baghdad, ‘You’re right. This is the middle of hell. It’s nothing like I expected.’

“And he was talking about how scared he was so much of the time, because he didn’t know where the enemy was. It’s not like there’s guys in red coasts with uniforms on. It’s a situation where every- body is the enemy,” the rocker continues.

“He was telling me that a lot of these guys recite this kind of mantra to themselves over and over again: ‘I’m going to be alright. I’m going to be alright. I’m going to be OK. I’m going to be OK. Stay smart. Stay smart.’

“So I included that in the lyrics of the song.”

To read more about American Soldier and Queensryche’s upcoming tour, click here.